The paper explores the changing ecology, political significance and cultural meaning of water in south India, and presents an account of the centrality of water resources to the organisation of a pre-colonial warrior state in which power and the control of resources were decentralised, and goes on to explore the conflicts and contradictions that emerged within this social system of water use under colonial rule.

The proposed project development objective is to improve and sustain irrigation service delivery and productivity of irrigated agriculture with effective integrated water resources management in a river basin/sub-basin framework in Tamil Nadu.

Wetlands are areas covered with water permanently or seasonally. They are amongst the most productive ecosystems on the earth. Water is life, and wetlands are life support systems that ensure the functioning of the water cycle. Wetlands store water, reduce flooding, improve water quality, recharge aquifers, maintain shorelines, and prevent soil erosion.

At the request of Save Chennai Beaches Campaign, a fact-finding tour of the coast of Chennai between Light House and Thiruvanmiyur was conducted on September 29, 2012, to document instances of Coastal and riverine wetland Encroachments and land use conversion. Leading the fact-finding were T.K. Ramkumar, a lawyer, and environmentalist, familiar both with environmental laws and the environment and Kartik Shanker, a marine turtle specialist and faculty at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Climate Adaptation through Sub-Basin Development Investment Program (the Program) aims to establish institutions and systems in the State of Tamil Nadu to help local communities adapt to climate change with an advance of integrated water resources management (IWRM) and knowledge base